Between mid-February and mid-May 2026, five senior contributors stepped back from full-time roles at the Ethereum Foundation. The organization also released a 38-page Mandate in March, re-anchoring its mission around cypherpunk values — censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security. While some on X have speculated about an ideological purge or brain drain, primary EF documents don't support those claims.
The departures
Tomasz Stańczak announced his step-down as co-Executive Director on February 13, after just 11 months in the role. Bastian Aue was named interim co-Executive Director. Josh Stark and Trent Van Epps both said they were leaving on April 16 — Stark after roughly seven years, citing a long break with family; Van Epps had his last day April 10 and publicly criticized EF leadership's association with the Milady NFT collection. Alex Stokes began an open-ended sabbatical in the same period. Dankrad Feist had already moved to a part-time advisor role in October 2025, joining VC-backed L1 Tempo as an advisor while remaining an EF advisor. Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko moved out of the protocol cluster; new co-leads for that group include Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik.
Leadership reshuffles
The exits leave the foundation with an interim leadership structure. Aue now serves as co-Executive Director alongside Aya Miyaguchi, who remains as Executive Director. The protocol cluster, a core R&D team, saw the biggest turnover: three of its long-time leads stepped away, with three new co-leads stepping in. It's a significant shift for a group that drives much of Ethereum's technical direction, but the foundation hasn't signaled any change in priorities.
The March Mandate
The 38-page Mandate released in March aims to settle exactly what the EF is for. It introduces the CROPS principle: Ethereum must remain censorship resistant, open source, private, and secure. The document also references a 'Source Seppuku License' — a pre-existing satirical license the EF has adopted. The tone is deliberately back-to-basics, realigning with the cypherpunk ethos that first drew many early contributors. It's a response, in part, to criticism that the EF had drifted away from those values.
What comes next
The foundation is now operating with an interim co-Executive Director and a reconfigured protocol team. The Mandate gives a clear philosophical anchor, but it doesn't stop the departures. Whether more senior people follow or the new structure stabilizes the organization is an open question. The next public milestone will be the EF's annual report, due later this year, which may show how the reshuffled team handles ongoing research and grant-making.
